Follow the author of this article

Follow the topics within this article

He bought New York's 'Bank' for £36,000 and sold it for £43m. But, as a new film reveals, Jay Maisel found it hard to let go

For nearly 50 years, the grand, palazzo-like building flanking the corner of Spring Street, in Lower Manhattan, was a mystery to locals who passed it on their way to nearby Roosevelt Park, or Bowery subway station. Many of them assumed its six storeys were derelict – certainly the scree of graffiti plastering its lower levels, the boarded-up windows and its soot-blackened, peeling wooden door indicated as much.

In fact, all 38,000 sq ft of it; every one of its 72 rooms, every inch of its marble, mahogany, maple, stained glass, granite and wrought iron interior, belonged...